1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to coatings for implantable medical devices, such as drug delivery vascular stents for controlling the release rate of bioactive agents from the polymer matrix. This invention more particularly relates to piezoelectricity modulation of release rate of bioactive agents from the polymer coatings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Biomaterials research is continuously striving to improve the compositions from which medical articles, such as medical devices and coatings for medical devices, are produced. An example of a medical article is an implantable medical device.
A stent is an example of an implantable medical device that can benefit from improvements, such as a coating that can be used as a vehicle for delivering pharmaceutically active agents in a predictable manner. Stents can act as a mechanical intervention to physically hold open and, if desired, expand a passageway within a subject. Typically, a stent may be compressed, inserted into a small vessel through a catheter, and then expanded to a larger diameter once placed in a proper location. Examples of patents disclosing stents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,733,665, 4,800,882 and 4,886,062.
Stents play an important role in a variety of medical procedures such as, for example, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), which is a procedure used to treat heart disease. In PTCA, a balloon catheter is inserted through a brachial or femoral artery, positioned across a coronary artery occlusion, inflated to compress atherosclerotic plaque and open the lumen of the coronary artery, deflated and withdrawn. Problems with PTCA include formation of intimal flaps or torn arterial linings, both of which can create another occlusion in the lumen of the coronary artery. Moreover, thrombosis and restenosis may occur several months after the procedure and create a need for additional angioplasty or a surgical by-pass operation. Stents are generally implanted to reduce occlusions, inhibit thrombosis and restenosis, and maintain patency within vascular lumens, such as the lumen of a coronary artery.
Stents are also being developed to provide a local delivery of agents. Local delivery of agents is often preferred over systemic delivery of agents, particularly where high systemic doses are necessary to achieve an effect at a particular site within a subject—high systemic doses of agents can often create adverse effects within the subject. One proposed method of local delivery includes coating the surface of a medical article with a polymeric carrier and attaching, an agent to, or blending it with, the polymeric carrier.
Agent-coated stents have demonstrated dramatic reductions in the rates of stent restenosis by inhibiting tissue growth associated with the restenosis. The process of restenosis in coronary artery disease is derived from an interplay of several implant-centered biological parameters. These are thought to be the combination of elastic recoil, vascular remodeling, and neointimal hyperplasia. Since restenosis is a multifactorial phenomenon, the local delivery of agents from a stent can be improved through the design of a release rate profile that would deliver agents as needed from the stent in a controlled manner.
Therefore, there is a need for a coating that provides controlled release of a bioactive agent and improved mechanical properties.
The embodiments of the present invention address these concerns as well as others that are apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art.